The claims of the Regional Health Insurance of Tyrol chave been rejected. The court agreed with the carrier, who was paying the contributions for the drivers in the registered offices in Poland and the Czech Republic.
Every second truck transporting the load in Austria is driven by the driver from the East. Ordering transport to the competitive companies from the Eastern Europe and creating branches in the countries with lower employment costs is a new method of the Austrians to increase savings and profits.
The Regional Health Organisation in Tyrol (Die Tiroler Gebietskrankenkasse – TGKK) required payment of 13 million EUR from the Austrian carrier, which employed drivers from Poland and the Czech Republic and paid their contributions in its foreign branches. The case involved 600 workers employed in their countries, but operating in Austria. According to the local newspaper “Tiroler Tageszeitung”, the entrepreneur challenged the order for payment issued by the organisation and the Federal Administrative Court agreed with that.
The contributions paid in the East are the Austrians’ method for savings
As the newspaper nays, the company’s registered office in Tyrol is the central point from which the truckers employed in branches in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania received orders. According to the regional health insurance organisation, it is Tyrol where the contributions should have been paid. The Fund has been fighting such practices for years, yet, as the decision of the administrative court showed, unsuccessfully. As the experts calculate, this way the carriers can save even up to 4000-5000 EUR monthly per an employee.
Arno Melitopulos, the head of the Tyrolean Regional health insurance funds, stressed in a comment he made for „Tiroler Tageszeitung”, that the situation should be analysed together with the Ministry of Social Affairs. Eventually, TGKK still has an option of extraordinary revision of the court’s judgement.